Picking Up The Pieces
by Denizen of Shadows
Summary: Max wakes up in a dark cellar with no memory of what happened after setting off to rescue Angel. With most of her flock MIA and a dying Fang, how will she pick up the missing pieces of her past and take down Itex once and for all?
1. Chapter 1

Max POV

I woke up slowly, struggling to pull myself out of the darkness of unconsciousness. I dimly felt the cool steel of shackles on my wrist and ankles, but ignored it as I attempted to wake myself up. My eyes flickered open, and in the dim light I saw Fang in a cage suspended from the roof, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"Fang?" my voice was cracked because I hadn't used it in so long, but it would manage. "Fang? Are you awake?" for a moment there was silence, then he raised his head slightly, opened dark brown eyes and looked at me. He looked horrible- he was obviously exhausted, and he could barely move his head to look in my direction. There were dark circles under his haunted brown eyes, and he looked like… like he didn't care about anything anymore.

"Fang," I whispered, "what happened? Where's the rest of the flock?"

Okay, maybe that wasn't the best start. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, so I'll back up a bit. The 'flock' I'm talking about is actually my family- not by blood, but still a family. There's me, Max, fourteen years old and the current leader. Younger then me by four months is Fang, the tall, dark and silent one and my right hand man, followed by Iggy, the fourteen year old blind cook with a thing for bombs. Next is eleven year old Nudge, AKA the Nudge channel- all Nudge, all the time. She's a sweet kid, but it's almost impossible to get her to shut up. The last two members of our flock are the only two actually related by blood, The Gasman and Angel. The Gasman's name pretty much explains it all- stay upwind is all I'm saying. Last, but not least, is Angel, the baby of the flock. Angel by name, Angel by nature- you'll never meet a nicer kid. There's not much privacy with a mind reader around, but she's too cute to stay mad at for long.

And yes, I did say 'mind reader'. All of the flock are special- special as in, we have wings. Other then wings, most of us have special powers- Angel can read minds, Gazzy can mimic voices, and Iggy somehow knows where everything is, even with the fact that he's blind. Of course, these came with a price- mainly the loss of freedom from birth to about four years ago, when the only good Whitecoat (Whitecoat's being the scientists who gave us our wings), Jeb, rescued us. Jeb dissapeared a few years ago, and we're fairly sure he's dead- but we're dealing.

But, back to the matter at hand, I was starting to panic- I had never seen Fang like this. He was always the strong one, my rock- if he wasn't strong, then it had to be bad.

"What's happening?" I asked softly, searching his haunted eyes. He stared at me blankly for a second, then,

"You don't remember?" I winced at the dull tone of his voice.

"No, I don't. Please, Fang, tell me," I asked, staring pleadingly at him. He stared, then laughed bitterly.

"I don't remember either. But I can tell you they're all dead, Max." I gaped at him in horror, searching for any signs that he was lying, or he was joking, or this was some sort of horrible test by the school. As far as I could tell, it wasn't.

"R-really?" He gave a non-committed half shrug, strength rapidly leaving him, half lidded eyes staring back at me.

"I don't know, but that's what the white coats said," he murmured softly, letting his head fall back onto his chest as his strength started giving out.

"Fang?" I asked hesitantly, unsure of an answer. He raised his head slightly and opened one eye, letting me know he was listening. I hesitated, then,

"Fang? Are... Are you alright?" Now, with Fang, asking that doesn't really get you an answer- he'd never say if anything was wrong, so it's kinda pointless to ask. So you can understand my surprise when his answer was "I'm dying."

**AN: Short, but that's 'cause I'm lazy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own it. Would I be writing this if I did?**

Max's POV

"You-You're what?" I choked out.

"Dying," He repeated. "The White Coats wanted to see if our immune systems could handle the new type of virus they were playing around with. Apparently, they can't." Okay, this was way too much for me to handle. Fang was dying, and apparently, the flock was already… no. Don't think about that now. Just think about how to get out of this hell hole.

_Maximum?_

I stiffened, looking wildly from left to right and back again.

"Fang?" I questioned. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" He asked, at the same time I heard the same voice as before.

_What are you talking about, Max? Of course he can't hear you. I'm in your head, remember?_

This day just keeps getting better. Fang, the flock, and now… a voice in my head, that apparently knows me. Does that just scream insanity, or what? Fang was looking at me with a small frown, looking slightly worried.

_Max?_

_**...Who are you and why are you in my head? **_I considered this to be a very good question, seeing as the voice was in my head without an invitation, but the Voice, as I had named it (original, I know), didn't think so.

_What do you mean, Max? You know me._ Was it my imagination, or did the voice in my head sound hurt that I didn't remember it? Wow, that was one weird sentence.

_**Why the heck would I know you? You're a freaking voice in my head that I've never heard before! **_There was silence for a while, then it spoke up again.

_You really don't remember?_

_**No! **_I snapped back, scowling. _**I don't know you! **_It finally fell silent, leaving me with glorious peacefulness. I swear, you really don't appreciate being the only one in your head until something just comes along and forces its way into your thinking space.

"Max!" I looked up, startled, and saw Fang giving me a very worried look.

"Um, what?" I asked, slightly sheepish as I realised he'd been calling me for a while. He gave me a look that was anoyed and relieved at the same time.

"Are you alright?" He asked, fixing his eyes on me, and I decided it would be better not to worry him any further by telling him about the voice I'd heard.

"I'm fine... I was just... thinking about the flock," I muttered, feeling slightly guilty when he looked sympathetic. He nodded, falling silent. A few minutes later he had fallen asleep, and I decided that sleep sounded pretty good right about now.

~*~

"Experiment F479GN01 appears to still be having negative responses to virus 043 injected into bloodstream three days ago. Plan 019687 is working so far, and both experiments appear to have not yet regained their memories, but no other side effects have been found…" I looked up, and saw a White Coat scribbling something in a notebook and muttering to himself. He glanced up when he saw I was awake, and scribbled another thing in his notebook. He pushed his glasses up higher on his long, pasty nose, then spun on his heel and walked out of the room. After his footsteps had faded, I turned to check on Fang. If possible, he looked worse then yesterday- his olive skin was deathly pale, and his lips were pressed tightly together in his sleep. I felt a twinge of panic in my chest- Not Fang. Oh, god, I couldn't lose Fang. Hearing the sound of more footsteps on the white tiled floor, I tensed and pushed those thoughts out of my mind. I could worry about them later. Right now, concentrate on these jerks in white coats standing in front of my cage. I mustered as much pride as I could while crouching in a cage, glared at them, and waited for them to speak.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Only in my head.**

Max's POV

Standing in front of me were two White Coats- there was the one from before, and another that was holding a long, dangerous looking needle.

"Subject 56000, self given name of Maximum Ride, you're needed for testing. Come quietly or we will be forced to harm you," the one holding the needle said, looking at me like he expected me to come obediently like a good little bird kid. I snorted, raising an eyebrow-did he seriously believe I'd come quietly?

"Because it's not like you won't hurt me anyway, right?" The other White Coat scowled at me, waving the needle in front of my face.

"Come with us. The director wants to see you."

"Will there be tea and biscuits?"

He stared at me looking thrown for a second, apparently unaware that I was capable of thinking, let alone sarcasm.

"The director wants to see you," he repeated, still looking slightly confused, and looked at the other one for support. He nodded, and the needle was abruptly plunged into my arm. The last thing I saw before my vision went fuzzy was two more White Coats, heaving Fangs limp body out of the cage.

* * *

You know when you have a nightmare, and you think you've woken up but you're really still having the same nightmare? Yeah, well, that was happening to me, but it didn't seem like there was much chance of me actually waking up anytime soon. The reason I knew it was a nightmare? I was handcuffed to a chair, gagged, and next to me was Fang, gagged like me. And, in front of me, was a lady with fair hair, and brown eyes. I figure she was the head honcho, because she was sitting in a fancy chair behind a fancy desk, and the two whitecoats behind her looked nervous as hell. I glared at her, but she just grinned back.

"Hello, Max," she purred, leaning forward over her desk. "How are you?" Seeing as my mouth was gagged, I couldn't answer directly, but I think she got the point from the death glare I was sending her. She ignored me, spinning her fancy chair around to face one of the White Coats. "Bring in the antidote," She ordered, and he nodded, practically falling over himself in his haste as he ran to get what she had asked for. She spun back around to face me, and motioned to the other White Coat. He walked forward and ungagged me, quickly retreating to a safe distance as soon as he had done.

"What do you want?" I spat, glaring at her. I felt Fang stir next to me, and spared a worried glance in his direction, then turned back to the director.

"We have a proposition for you, Max," she said, taking a needle full of amber liquid from the first White Coat. I raised my eyebrow in disbelief.

"Oh yeah? what can you offer me?" Psh. The only thing she could offer me is our freedom, and I highly dought she's gonna give me that.

She smiled, lifting the needle. "See this? It's the antidote to the poison currently in Fangs bloodstream. If you agree to become a weapon for us, to let us break you, we give Fang the antidote and he goes free. If not, well... lets just say his death won't be pleasant." I stared at her in shock, then turned my head to look at Fang. His eyes were half open, and he shook his head, telling me not to do it. But what could I do? I couldn't let Fang die. The rest of my flock might be... gone, but I wouldn't let them get Fang as well.

_You can get out of this, Max._

'Oh yeah, how? Magic fairies will come and rescue us? I don't think so.' Okay, so I was fighting with a voice in my head that isn't me. I'm under a lot of stress right now, okay?

_Not quite._

I was about to ask what he ment by that, when I heard a click, and my handcuffs unlocked, coming loose in my hands.

**AN: What will happen next? Tune in next time to find out! "plays catchy theme song"**


End file.
